ON THE TRAILS OF THE IROQUOIS 22 March – 4 August 2013 Media Conference 21 March 2013 Content 1. Exhibition Dates Page 2 2. Information on the Exhibition Page 5 3. Wall panels in the Exhibition Page 7 4. List of Lenders Page 17 5. Catalogue Page 20 6. THE IROQUOIS LONGHOUSE Page 21 7. Current and Upcoming Exhibitions Page 22 Head of Corporate Communications / Press Officer Sven Bergmann T +49 228 9171–204 F +49 228 9171–211 bergmann@bundeskunsthalle.de

Exhibition Dates Duration 22 March – 4 August 2013 Director Rein Wolfs CEO Dr. Bernhard Spies Curator Dr. Sylvia S. Kasprycki Exhibition Manager Henriette Pleiger Advisors Prof. Dr. Christian Feest, former

Director of the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, Iroquois scholars and artists, among them Dr. Thomas Hill, former Director of the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Canada; Dr. Peter Jamison, Director of Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, New York, USA

Head of Corporate Communications / Sven Bergmann Press Officer Catalogue / Press Copy € 32/ € 15 Opening Hours Tuesday and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed on Mondays Public Holidays Good Friday (29 March 2013) Easter Monday (1 April 2013) Labour Day (1 May 2013) Whit Monday (20 May 2013) 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Admission Exhibition standard / reduced / family ticket € 10 / € 6.50 / € 16 Happy Hour-Ticket € 6 Tuesday and Wednesday 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday to Sunday 5 to 7 p.m. (for individuals only) Admission Longhouse standard / reduced / family ticket € 3 / € 2 / € 5

Admission Exhibition and Longhouse standard / reduced / family ticket € 11.50 / € 7.50 / € 18.50 Admission for all Exhibitions standard / reduced / family ticket € 16 / € 11 / € 26.50 Advance Ticket Sales standard / reduced / family ticket € 11.90 / € 7.90 / € 19.90 inclusive public transport ticket (VRS) Advance Ticket Sales for all Exhibitions standard / reduced / family ticket € 16.90 / € 11.40 / € 28.90 Regular Guided Tours Wednesday: 5 p.m. in German language Friday: 4 p.m. Sundays and public holidays: 3 p.m.

€ 3, reduced € 1.50 additional to exhibition admission (min. 5, max. 25 participants)

Guided Tour for families Saturday: 2 p.m. in German language Guided Tour for children Sundays and public holidays: 3 p.m. in German language Guided Tour Longhouse and Saturday: 2 p.m. Garden Landscape 23 and 30 March, Easter Monday (1 April), as well as 6, 13, 20 und 27 April Further dates in March and October Audio Guide for adults € 4, reduced € 3 in English and German language Audio Guide for children € 3 in German language Public Transport Underground lines 16, 63, 66 and bus

lines 610, 611 and 630 to Heussallee / Museumsmeile.

There is a car and coach park on Joseph- Beuys-Allee behind the Art and Exhibition Hall.

Press Information (German / English) www.bundeskunsthalle.de For press files follow “press”.

Guided Group Tours information T +49 228 9171–243 and registration F +49 228 9171–244 kunstvermittlung@bundeskunsthalle.de General Information www.bundeskunsthalle.de (German / English) T +49 228 9171–200 Cultural Partner WDR3 Second venue Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin 18 October 2013 – 6 January 2014

Information on the Exhibition With loans from the United States, Canada, as well as numerous European museums, the exhibition undertakes a comprehensive search for the trails of the Iroquois throughout the centuries. Historical paintings and drawings, ethnographic objects, and extraordinary examples of Iroquois contemporary art tell their checkered history aims to portray this diversity and the Iroquois people’s continuous creative adaptations to ever-changing living conditions over time, presenting approximately 500 objects on about 1.600 square meters of representative exhibition space. ON THE TRAILS OF THE IROQUOIS will attempt to trace the development of Iroquois culture from its origins up to its vibrant articulations in the present-day United States and Canada, following their varied history through colonial times characterized by war, trade, and European missionary efforts; the subsequent weakening of their power through loss of land and political autonomy and the eventual break-up of the League after the American Revolution; the cultural transformations during the Reservation period; and their strive for sovereignty in the twentieth century up to very contemporary concerns. Bringing together for the first time art and artifacts from major collections in Europe, the United States, and Canada and conceived in close cooperation with Iroquois artists, curators, and intellectuals, the exhibition aspires to a multi-layered representation of both Western appropriations and imaginings of Iroquois culture as well as contemporary indigenous voices on their history and present-day identities. As Tuscarora artist and writer Richard W. Hill expressed it, “it can safely be said that today, the Haudenosaunee define themselves through their diversity”, as each generation “adds to that layered definition, taking the artistic expressions of the past, the oral traditions of their ancestors, and add that to their own life experiences”. Of the hundreds of Native American peoples, only a few have over the centuries engaged the European and Euro-American imagination to the extent that the Iroquois did. This fascination is in a large measure due to the outstanding role the Five (and later Six) Nations played in the arena of colonial encounters in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century North America, which gained them a reputation as fierce warriors and skilled diplomats and is also reflected in a host of fictional literature. But European interest has always far exceeded this preoccupation with political and military excellence, and Western intellectual struggle with Iroquois culture has left enduring imprints not only on the history of anthropology, but also on popular culture, the peace and women’s movements, and even efforts to establish the foundation of alternative lifestyles. As a horticultural people, whose women planted corn, beans and squash on clearings in the forest and whose men supplemented their diet by hunting and fishing, the Iroquois lived in villages of bark-covered longhouses occupied by extended families at the time when the Dutch and French advanced into the

interior of North America in the first half of the seventeenth century. But as implied in their self-designation “Haudenosaunee”, the Iroquois were ”People of the Longhouse” in more than this practical sense: Their intertribal confederation was likewise metaphorically referred to as a Longhouse, in which the Mohawks and Senecas assumed the role of Keepers of the Eastern and Western Doors and the Onondagas were Keepers of the Central Fire; between them, as Younger Brothers, sat the Oneidas and Cayugas. The founding of the League under the Great Law of Peace had ended previous intertribal warfare and by uniting the strengths of the five groups (who were joined around 1722 by the Tuscaroras as the sixth member) provided the basis for Iroquois territorial expansion and military ascendancy over their indigenous neighbors.

Wall panels in the Exhibition INTRODUCTION: ON THE TRAILS OF THE IROQUOIS The Iroquois Confederacy, which originally consisted of five nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca were joined in 1722 by the Tuscarora to form the “Six Nations”), due to its strength and geopolitical position became one of the most important power factors in the colonial history of eastern North America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This prominent role caused the Iroquois to be perceived by the Western world as the embodiment of the cruelty of Indian warfare, while at the same time arousing admiration for their statesmanship and diplomacy. Even after the loss of their importance in the wake of the American Revolution, Iroquois ideas and practices have been adopted by the women’s and the peace movements and have provided a significant impulse for pan-Indianism. Today the Iroquois are at the forefront of the struggle for indigenous sovereign rights. The exhibition follows the trails of the Iroquois across four centuries, illuminating central themes of their culture and history from different perspectives, notably including the views expressed by contemporary Iroquois artists. The Two Paths Woven belts of wampum (white and purple shell beads served to record and document important agreements and were exchanged between the respective parties involved. According to present Iroquois understanding, the “Two-Row” wampum belt recalls a seventeenth-century agreement with the Whites: Just as the two purple lines of the belt run parallel on the white background, the Iroquois and the non-Iroquois should walk on “different but mutually respectful” paths. This wampum belt inspired the exhibition design. 1. ORIGINS While archaeologists offer various interpretations of the data regarding the origin of the Iroquois and have located the provenance of the indigenous populations of the Americas in Asia, Iroquois traditions explain the beginnings of the Onkwehonwe (the “real people”) and their world with the story of a pregnant woman who is thrusted from the sky. In her free fall „Sky Woman“ is caught by birds and alighted upon a giant turtle swimming in the primeval ocean, upon whose back the earth is formed from mud fetched from the bottom of the sea by a muskrat. The designation “Turtle Island” for the North American continent is derived from this creation story. Sky Woman’s daughter is killed during childbirth by the younger of her two antagonistic twin sons Taronhiawagon (“Skyholder”) and Tawiskaron (“Flint”), who subsequently join forces to arrange the world and to create the human beings. In the course of this, Tawiskaron changes the ideal world of his brother, who today is frequently referred to as the “Creator,” into its less satisfactory present shape.

2. FOUNDATIONS OF EXISTENCE Everything the Iroquois needed to secure their food, prepare their clothing, and build their shelters was procured from nature by means of implements of their own manufacture. Of an equal importance for survival were their dealings with other members of their communities and with the powerful non-human beings of this world. Many of the items here on display that were or are associated with the material, social, and spiritual aspects of securing their livelihood also show marks of the historical changes that have occurred in the course of the centuries. Foundations of Subsistence The cultivation of corn, squash, and beans (the “Three Sisters”), planted without the use of the plow by the women on fields owned by them, provided the basis for a life in sedentary communities. The men contributed to the procurement of food by hunting deer and other animals, and the yield of fishing and the gathering of wild plant food supplemented the diet. Within the framework of a division of labor by gender the women produced pots and basketry, while the men manufactured wooden and stone implements and built the houses roofed with bark. In the absence of beasts of burden and wheeled vehicles, boats made of elm bark or wood were the most important means of transportation next to the carrying devices used by men and women. Foundations of Society Iroquois society was subdivided into kinship groups whose membership was inherited in the female line. These groups were living together, cooperated economically, and were linked to one another through ties of marriage. The longhouses, ranging up to 60 meters in length and inhabited by the families belonging to a matrilineage under the leadership of the highest ranking woman (“matron”), became the epitome of the social and political order. While the women held an elevated position in the house and in the village, the domain of the men as hunters, warriors, and traders was in regulating the relationships to the outside world (including the non-human beings of the world). Spiritual Foundations The world arranged by Taronhiawagon and Tawiskaron was endowed with gifts, for which the Iroquois gave thanks in the course of religious rituals, but it was also full of dangers against which humans needed to protect themselves. The performance of the rituals was partly organized by the kinship groups, partly by associations cutting across the lines of kinship, as for example the Society of False Faces, which was responsible for healing and preventive health care. Dreams were an important source of individual religious experience, while the interpretation of these “wishes of the soul” fell among the obligations of society. Witchcraft, the abuse of supernatural powers to the detriment of others, was looked upon as the source of all evil, especially in times of crisis; accusation of witchcraft constituted an effective instrument of social control.

Games as a Reflection of Society and Worldview The games of the Iroquois, irrespective of whether they were played with balls, spears, or dice, are mirrors both of their society, in which the nations of the Iroquois League and the clans of the individual nations were divided into two opposite, but complementary moieties, and of the world put in place by the antagonistic pair of twins, in which divergent purposes are competing with one another. Teams, but also individual players, were always representing kinship groups whenever they met in contests to which a mythical origin and religious significance was attributed. 3. LONGHOUSE AND LEAGUE Around the fourteenth century the increasing intensity of corn cultivation promoted rapid population growth and led to conflicts between the Iroquoian peoples. In this period of “fratricidal wars,” Deganawida, a Huron adopted by the Mohawk, as messenger of Skyholder together with the Onondaga Hiawatha succeeded in uniting the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca into the League of Five Nations. The “Great Law of Peace” ensured internal security but also invited other peoples to take their place under the “Tree of Peace,” under which “the hatchet was buried.” The alternative to voluntary submission was war, by which in the seventeenth century the other Northern Iroquoian peoples (Huron, Petun, Wenro, Neutral, Erie, Susquehannock) were dispersed, annihilated, or incorporated into the Iroquois Confederacy. The Founding of the League The most vehement resistance against the founding of the League, which was probably established in the fifteenth century, came from the evil-minded Onondaga chief Tadodaho. He was restored to reason only after Hiawatha had combed the snakes from his hair, and in the end he was appointed leader or speaker of the Grand Council of the League. The proportional representation of the member nations in the Grand Council likewise reflects the political expedience at the time of its creation. The People of the Longhouse The members of the Iroquois Confederacy call themselves Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”). In this metaphorical house the Mohawk assume the role of Keepers of the Eastern Door, the Onondaga are the Keepers of the Central Fire, and the Seneca the Keepers of the Western Door; in between these three “Elder Brothers” live the two “Younger Brothers”: the Oneida and the Cayuga. In the Grand Council fifty chiefs nominated by the matrons of specific kinship groups represent the five original members (but not the Tuscarora, who had joined later). All decisions have to be made unanimously. Their implementation cannot be enforced. Wampum: Mourning and Memory Mourning the death of one or several female relatives, Hiawatha invented the wampum beads made of mollusk shells and made them into strings symbolizing

the consolations offered to the bereaved. Until today these strings play a central role in the ritual by which the office und name title of a deceased chief are transferred to his successor. Belts of wampum were exchanged as symbols of important statements or agreements between the parties in diplomatic negotiations and were preserved by the Keepers of the Wampum, who also memorized their associated meanings. War: Revenge, Mourning, and Prestige The refusal of their neighbors to join the League entitled the Iroquois to wage war against them. In this, apart from revenge, the motivation of the women to replace losses of their lineages through the adoption of prisoners of war (the so-called “mourning wars”) was as strong as the men’s interest to gain social prestige and to strengthen their spiritual power through the victory over their enemies. Economic incentives, like access to European trade goods or the interests of the fur trade, played an increasingly important role in colonial times, which were determined by the contest of European powers (the Dutch, Swedes, French, British) in northeastern North America. 4. NEW WORLDS The European conquerors of North America looked upon the continent across the Atlantic Ocean as a “new world.” For the Iroquois and other indigenous peoples the unexpected arrival of these strangers in fact transformed the world around them into something new and different. Hitherto unknown and frequently inscrutable goods, especially metal implements and glass beads, initially often modified lifeways for the better, yet in the end contributed to a dependence on the suppliers. The missionary propagation of Christianity opened the door to possible choices between different worldviews and values. Some Iroquois could even devote themselves to the adventure of the discovery of Europe. The Iroquois and the Colonial Contest After the abandonment of the Swedish and Dutch colonial enterprises in North America in 1655 and 1667, respectively, England and France were pitted against each other in the contest for colonial supremacy. While the Saint Lawrence River provided the French with direct access to the interior regions rich with fur, they did not match the British in terms of population number or economic and military strength. Situated between the two domains of power, the Iroquois exploited the rivalry between both colonial regimes to their advantage, but in the end could not prevent that the different interests of the members of the Iroquois Confederacy endangered their political unity. Fur Trade: The Gold of the North and Globalization The profits from the fur trade compensated the European colonial powers in North America for the absence of the hoped-for gold and silver mines. For the

Iroquois and other indigenous peoples the goods that could be acquired in exchange for a few animal pelts (apart from glass beads and iron tools also brass kettles, fire arms, textiles, and last but not least alcoholic beverages) in the beginning often seemed to be products of supernatural origin and quickly became an indispensable part of their own culture. Thus, they unexpectedly found themselves on a one-way street to globalization, in which inscrutable interrelationships overshadowed local agency. Christian Missions and Pluralism The great commission of the Bible, which seemed to justify the colonial ventures, only had a chance of success where established regimes and systems of world explanation were thrown into a crisis, e.g., as a result of imported epidemics, and where economic or political interest in closer ties with one of the colonial powers paved the way for conversion. In the case of the Iroquois both conditions were generally not met. Exceptions were the Mohawk mission villages established around 1670 along the Saint Lawrence River, which were located outside the traditional tribal territories, and the massive adhesion of the Mohawks remaining in New York to the Anglican Church after around 1740. The given choice between divergent life designs quickly led to a pluralism of values, which neither the Christians nor the traditionalists had desired. Four Kings of Canada at the British Royal Court Visits of Indian dignitaries in Europe were mainly arranged in order to impress them with the splendor of royal residencies and the superiority of the colonial powers. Not all of these visitors were able to present their claims as successfully as the three Mohawks and the Mahican who were received in London by Queen Anne in 1710 as the “Four Kings of Canada” and caused a great stir in all social circles. Their wish for a British conquest of French Canada coincided with the aim of Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), the American version of the War of the Spanish Succession, but remained unfulfilled for the time being. Their request for the sending of Anglican missionaries resulted in the founding of a successful mission at the Mohawk River. 5. REVOLUTION AND REVITALIZATION The American Revolution was a turning point in Iroquois history. As a result the Iroquois lost their central military and political position in eastern North America and the major part of their land. Derailed from their seemingly inescapable track to glory, the Six Nations plunged into a profound crisis of meaning accompanied by factionalism and poverty. As at the time of the founding of the League, this was a “time of troubles” but also the zero hour of a tradition-minded future. The Iroquois in the American War of Independence (1775–1783) In the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) France lost its possessions in North America and the Iroquois their position between the colonial rivals. Apprehension of an unrestrained inrush of White settlers prompted the British

Crown in 1763 to issue a proclamation pledging to the indigenous peoples the secure tenure of their lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. This guarantee contributed to the dissatisfaction of the colonists, which ultimately led to the American War of Independence (1775–1783). The League’s attempt to remain neutral in this “war of brothers” failed because of the firm attachment of the Mohawk to the British Crown, while the Oneida supported the American Patriots. By the end of the war, the Iroquois had lost the major part of their lands in New York State and a new border cut across Iroquois territory. Mary Jemison: The White Iroquois Many children who had been abducted by Indians in the “French and Indian Wars” (the Seven Years’ War in North America) and adopted into the tribes came to feel so comfortable there that they did not want to return to the White world. This is also true of Mary Jemison (1743–1833), whose biography was recorded a few years before her death and unexpectedly became a bestseller. In the book she recounts the peaceful life of the Seneca in the years prior to the Revolution, but also the destruction of their villages by General Sullivan in 1779, the subsequent loss of land through treaties and fraud, as well as the death of her sons as a consequence of alcohol abuse. Up to this day her descendants on the reservations in New York and in Ontario honor the memory of this extraordinary Seneca woman. Joseph Brant: The Royalist Mohawk Joseph Brant Thayendanegea (1743–1807), the son of Christianized Mohawk parents from Canajoharie, was encouraged in his pro-British stance by Sir William Johnson, who as Superintendent of Indian Affairs had gained the Mohawk’s trust and who had eight children with Brant’s sister Molly. At the outbreak of the American Revolution Brant led a majority of Iroquois into the British camp and raided the border regions with a body of Mohawks and White Rangers under his command. Even though he was not a hereditary chief, he was regarded as the true leader of the Iroquois in London, where he visited twice. After the end of the war he went to Canada with his followers, where he established a second League of the Iroquois on the Six Nations Reserve. Since then two separate League councils exist in Canada and in the United States. Brant was a wanderer between two worlds and someone about whom opinions still differ widely within and without Iroquois territory. Cornplanter, Red Jacket, and the United States After the War of Independence the Iroquois remaining in the Unites States, the majority of them Senecas, endeavored to establish a positive relationship with the former enemy, who now resided in Philadelphia as the “Great White Father.” A prominent role in this was played by the war chief Cornplanter (ca. 1735–1836), who managed to keep the Iroquois out of further wars with the Unites States, as well as Red Jacket (ca. 1750–1830), an opponent of Joseph Brant, who entered the history books as a splendid orator. Both signed treaties with the United States which granted land cessions but which also secured the sovereign rights of the Iroquois still valid today.

6. RESERVATION LIFE AND ADAPTATION The sudden loss of their military and political importance and of the major portion of their lands compelled the Iroquois in the nineteenth century to an often painful adaptation to a life on reservations on both sides of the international border between the United States and Canada. The internal conflicts between factions designated as “Christian” and “pagan” or “progressive” and “conservative,” respectively, were accompanied by a growing inequality between the poor and the rich. Especially in the neighborhood of much frequented places such as Montreal or Niagara, tourism offered new economic opportunities through the marketing of tradition. As before, the men in particular were looking for profitable and prestigious employment far from home – whether it was work in high steel or in the show business. The Marketing of Tradition: Iroquois Beadwork Glass beads had filtered into the interior through old trade networks and had already become known to the Iroquois before their first direct contacts with Europeans. Only in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, however, sufficient quantities of small embroidery beads became available, which were used by the Iroquois to decorate their clothing and to produce items for the souvenir trade. For the Seneca and Tuscarora the Niagara Falls provided the prime market place, while the Mohawk of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake catered to the tourists visiting Montreal. Fashionable adaptation to the changing tastes of customers, low prices, and easy transportability were requirements for economic success. From Household Stuff to Art Form: Iroquois Basketry The sale of sturdy baskets to White customers, made from wood splints by Iroquois women and their indigenous neighbors in northeastern North America, provided a substantial contribution to the income of Native American families in the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century. Today Akwesasne is a center of Iroquois basketry, where this skill is not only passed down within the families but is also deliberately taught to the younger generation in courses and workshops. For its technical perfection and artistic innovation the community of Akwesasne basketmakers was honored in 1988 with the Governor’s Arts Award of the State of New York. Silver Ornaments: The Appropriation of the Foreign After the distribution of silver ornaments in the framework of politics and trade had come to an end in the early nineteenth century, in some cases perhaps even before, Iroquois men began to learn the craft of silversmithing in order to meet the demand of their communities. While the raw materials and tools were of Euro-American origin, the technique of manufacture and the decorative patterns were adapted from Western models to fit their own needs. At the beginning of the twentieth century the craft had almost become extinct, and former silversmiths such as Levi Joe were selling their tools to museums. Silverwork was revived in the United States in the 1930s in the context of the Seneca Arts Project and a little later in Canada as well.

Lewis Henry Morgan: Science “Discovers“ the Iroquois As a student Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881), who later became a lawyer, had founded a fraternity named „The Grand Order of the Iroquois.“ His acquaintance with the true Iroquois is due to an accidental meeting in a bookshop in Albany with the young Seneca Ely S. Parker (1828–1895), who later served as aide-de-camp of Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War and afterwards became the first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington. Morgan’s 1851 book on the Iroquois, whom he also legally represented in land rights cases, made him the founder of American anthropology. A part of his systematic collection of Iroquois material culture is on display in this exhibition. The Seneca Arts Project (1935–1941): Wirtschaftskrise und Wiederbelebung der Tradition The Seneca Arts Project was initiated as part of the Works Progress Administration of the Roosevelt government by Arthur C. Parker, then director of the Rochester Museum and grandnephew of Ely S. Parker. Its goal was not only the creation of a new source of income for the impoverished inhabitants of the Tonawanda and Cattaraugus reservations in the years of the Great Depression but also to revitalize Seneca arts and crafts, which were in decline. Guided by Parker’s concern for quality and authenticity, about 100 artists, craftsmen, and craftswomen produced a total of around 5,000 traditional objects (including some replicas based on published sources) as well as individual works of art. The Iroquois Meet Karl May: Indians in the Show Business In the days before film and television the fascination with the myth of “the Indians” on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean was most directly satisfied by show troupes, whose performance of the activities so frequently described in novels appealed to all senses. The Iroquois, usually outfitted with the typical “Indian” feather bonnets of the western Native American peoples, participated in numerous “Wild West“ shows, often in leading roles. However, Iroquois concert musicians, vaudeville dancers, poets, and erudite lecturers likewise profited from the enthusiasm about Indians far away from the reservations. On and Off the Reservation In spite of all successes that individual Iroquois owed to their adaptability to the world of the Whites, and in spite of the divergence of values held by their residents, the reservations remained of central importance for the preservation of Iroquois identity in the twentieth century as places of community, as links to the past, and as symbols of sovereignty. Especially after the First World War, the visible changes in lifeways encouraged the United States and Canada in their attempt to destroy the still existing traditional political systems. Inadvertently, they thereby contributed significantly to the strengthening of a consciousness of tradition.

Fearless at High Altitudes: Iroquois in High Steel “These Indians were agile as goats. … They would walk a narrow beam high up in the air … and it wouldn’t mean any more to them than walking on the solid ground.” This is how an official of the Dominion Bridge Company described the dexterity and courage of the Mohawk workers from Kahnawake who had been hired in 1886 to work on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge across the Saint Lawrence River. Since then generations of Iroquois ironworkers have contributed to the creation of the skylines of New York City and of other megacities. Work in high steel not only offered them a new and above-average source of income but also the possibility to carry on with traditional forms of mobility and a male quest for prestige. 7. AUTONOMY AND ACTIVISM Until today Iroquois traditionalists consider the League of the Iroquois to be an independent political entity and therefore regard as void their unsolicited integration into the nation states of the United States and Canada. Yet in their struggle for land, identity, rights, and dignity, which takes place on a local and a pan-Indian level, representatives of rather divergent points of view invoke “tradition” to argue their specific goals. The Struggle for Sovereign Rights The claim of the Iroquois and other indigenous peoples of North America to the status of autonomous „nations“ is not the least supported by the treaties made with them as independent political entities, which are also the basis of their special legal status within the nation states. In spite of the intense efforts of Canada and the United States since the nineteenth century to assimilate the indigenous peoples into the dominant society and in spite of being granted citizenship (1924 in the Unites States, 1956 in Canada), the Iroquois continue to insist on their independence and are pioneers in the fight for sovereign indigenous rights on a pan-Indian level as well. To travel with their own passport and to cross the U.S.-Canadian border without formalities is an expression of their self-assertion and autonomy. Broken Treaties and Loss of Land: The Kinzua Dam A third of the Allegany Reservation guaranteed to the Seneca in the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794 and the “Cornplanter Tract,” the last Indian reservation in Pennsylvania, are today resting beneath the still waters of the Allegheny River backed up by the Kinzua Dam. Plans for flood control in the region date back to the 1930s and were taken up again in 1956. The construction of the dam was completed in 1965 against the resistance of the Seneca and the vehement protests of their indigenous and non-indigenous supporters. As a result of the flooding of the land, around 500 Senecas had to be relocated, 1,500 graves reinterred, and the Coldspring Longhouse moved to a new location. The financial compensation finally granted by Congress was invested into education, economic development, and some construction projects, but could hardly

mitigate the traumatic experience of the people affected. Up to this day the Kinzua dam project stands as a prominent example of the negation of indigenous rights and the unilateral revocation of historical treaties. Blessing or Curse: Cigarettes, Gasoline, and Gambling The special legal status of federally recognized tribes in the Unites States, who are subject to federal but not individual state law on their reservations, includes tax exemption on indigenous territories. The sale of cheap cigarettes and gasoline to White customers has since the late twentieth century developed into a flourishing business. This legal situation also permitted the establishment of bingo palaces and casinos, which opened up sources of enormous income for the economically weak reservations, especially where gambling is prohibited in the surrounding states. Since 1988 the indigenous gambling industry has been regulated by a federal law (the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act), whose sanctions, however, are often used as leverage in ongoing land rights claims. Not only for this reason, the opinions of the Iroquois remain divided in this respect, and many warn against the deterioration of traditional values associated with the new bonanza. The „Oka Crisis“: Mohawk Warriors against the Canadian Army In 1990 the town of Oka near Montreal made plans in the context of a development project to expand a golf course on land claimed by the Mohawks of Kanehsatake. Protesting against this building project, which would have destroyed a cemetery and a pine grove, the Mohawks erected barricades to block access to the site. The death of a policeman in the course of the storming of this blockade caused the situation to escalate and finally led to the intervention of the Canadian Army. Mohawk resistance received broad support from other indigenous groups, especially by the Warriors from Kahnawake, who in solidarity blockaded Mercier Bridge, one of the major traffic arteries in and out of Montreal. The siege of Kanehsatake lasted for seventy-eight days and ended with the capitulation of the Mohawks. Although plans for the expansion of the golf course were canceled, the land rights issue has not been satisfactorily resolved until today.

List of Lenders Europe Austria Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna Denmark Nationalmuseet, Kopenhagen Germany Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg Unitätsarchiv, Herrnhut Karl-May-Museum, Radebeul Privat Collections Germany Christian Feest Sylvia S. Kasprycki Karl Makus Kreis Henriette Pleiger Hartmut Rietschel France Archives nationales d’outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence Musée du quai Branly, Paris Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen Great-Britain Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge Derby Museums, Derby National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh Hunterian Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Glasgow National Trust, Quebec House, Kent British Museum, London National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Netherland Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam Russia Kunstkamera – Peter-der-Große-Museum für Anthropologie und Ethnographie der Russischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, St. Petersburg

Switzerland Museum der Kulturen Basel Nordamerika Native Museum, Zurich Canada Museum Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Gatineau Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa (Kahnawake Cultural Centre), Kahnawake McCord Museum, Montreal Canadian War Museum, Ottawa Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Art Gallery of Windsor Artists Hannah Claus Elizabeth Doxtater Carla Hemlock Babe Hemlock Thomas V. Hill Martin Loft Samuel Thomas USA Museum New York State Museum, Albany Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield Akwasasne Museum, Hogansburg National Anthropological Archives, Washington American Museum of Natural History, New York New-York Historical Society, New York Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester National Gallery of Art, Washington National Museum of the American Indian, Washington National Museum of Natural History, Washington National Portrait Gallery, Washington

Artists Michael Galban Sue-Ellen Herne G. Peter Jemison Peter B. Jones Ryan Rice Jolene Rickard Natasha Smoke Santiago

Catalogue ON THE TRAILS OF THE IROQUOIS

Format: 24,5 x 28 cm, Hardcover Pages: 264 with 440 coloured illustrations Price: 32 € Trade edition: Nicolai Verlag, Berlin In German and English language The catalogue accompanying the exhibition (to be published in a German as well as an English edition) will provide insights into the historical and cultural context of the exhibits and their makers. In addition, it will also highlight the importance of the ethnographic collections held by museums today for an understanding of a fascinating people and their culture. The catalogue will be published by Nicolai Verlag Berlin.

THE IROQUOIS LONGHOUSE and THE IROQUOIS GARDEN LANDSCAPE 22 March to the end of October 2013 Accompanying the exhibition ON THE TRAILS OF THE IROQUOIS, visitors will encounter a recreation of an Iroquois longhouse on the museum's square. Their traditional dwelling also stands as a symbol for the confederacy of the Iroquois nations, who call themselves Haudenosaunee, “People of the Longhouse”. The longhouse in Bonn is surrounded by a garden landscape. Next to a White Pine, the Tree of Peace, under which the proverbial hatchet was buried at the time of the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy, a variety of medicinal plants and herbs of the North American woodlands are grown. A vibrant educational program will highlight the traditional ways of life of the Iroquois.

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions TREASURES OF THE WORLD'S CULTURES The Great Collections: The British Museum until 7 April 2013 TREASURES OF THE WORLD’S CULTURES brings together more than 250 of the finest objects in the British Museum collection. Drawn from all of the Museum’s curatorial departments, these works come from every part of the world and from all ages. Collectively they form an overview of 2 million years of human culture and history. The range of the selected objects is unique. Audiences in Bonn will discover archaeological treasures from across the ancient world, magnificent Near East and Islamic artworks, masterpieces of non- Western cultures and much more. Every artefact displayed here is exceptional, and each has its own unique story to tell. An exhibition of the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, in cooperation with The British Museum, London. ONLY HERE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY'S CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION ACQUISITIONS FROM 2007 TO 2011 until 14 April 2013 The collection of contemporary art of the Federal Republic of Germany was launched in 1970 to document the development of art in Germany. The Art and Exhibition Hall has already mounted several presentations of works from the Federal Collection: Art in Germany in 1995, Actionbutton at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum of Contemporary Art in Berlin in 2003 and, most recently, Visit in 2008. ONLY HERE, the new exhibition, presents works purchased by an acquisitions committee whose five-year mandate came to an end in 2011. ONLY HERE presents one hundred works by seventy-eight artists and demonstrates the wide range of techniques and media – from large-scale installations, drawings, paintings and sculpture to photography and video – that characterise the current creative practice. ART STUDENTS DISPLAY THEIR WORKS 21st Federal Competition 3 May to 2 June 2013 Media Conference: 2 May 2013, 3 p.m. Every two years the Art and Exhibition Hall presents the Federal Competition ART STUDENTS DISPLAY THEIR WORKS. In 2013 it is the 21st Competition to be held. The exhibition is intended to create opportunities for comparison and to stimulate discussion, whilst providing an interested general public with an insight into work currently being done at art schools in Germany. The purpose of this competition, which the Federal Ministry for Education and Research holds, is to promote young artists. At the same time, it sets out to display the quality and diversity of education in the fine arts and to draw attention to the importance of artistic activity in society.

48 students of the 24 colleges, represented in the Conference of the Deans and Rectors of Art Colleges, Academies and Universities, are to submit works which will be judged by a three-person jury. CLEOPATRA The Oriental Garden on the roof of Art and Exhibition Hall 17 May to 6 October 2013 Coinciding with the exhibition CLEOPATRA – THE ETERNAL DIVA, the roof of the Art and Exhibition Hall will be transformed into an Oriental garden inspired by the key elements of Egyptian garden design. Crisscrossed by lush palm-lined walkways, the garden will be divided into several thematically defined areas showcasing different plants cultivated in ancient Egypt. The garden will feature an oasis as well as horticultural environments designed around the ideas of 'Colour', 'Water', 'Smell' and 'Tribute to Cleopatra'. Pyramid tents will be set up in the different areas of the garden to provide further information on the planting scheme and to give visitors a rich sensory experience of the heady scents and fragrances of the Orient. CLEOPATRA The Eternal Diva 28 June to 6 October 2013 Few historical figures divide public opinion as much as Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Ancient Egypt (69–30 BC). Her eventful life and colourful personality inspired numerous writers, painters and composers. Over the past two thousand years every era has produced its own distinctive image of Cleopatra. These constructs reflect not only the then prevalent models of femininity but also the cultural, political and social concerns of their time. This astonishing fact forms the starting point of our interdisciplinary exhibition. It presents the many faces of Cleopatra from antiquity to the pop culture of the present day. A selection of sculptures, paintings and photographs as well as films and video works invite the viewer on a journey through history and around the world, a journey that also raises poignant questions about our own identity. Subject to change! Head of Corporate Communications / Press Officer Sven Bergmann T +49 228 9171–204 F +49 228 9171–211 bergmann@bundeskunsthalle.de